The Activity Jar...

I mentioned on Facebook the other day that we had chosen our activities for the day using our Activity Jar and I got quite a reaction from everyone wanting to know more about this mysterious tool.  I'm here to tell you - it is fabulous and brilliant and oh-so simple of an idea.

The re-incarnation will at least
involve some bling!

Due in large part to my garage sale addiction, my children have significantly TOO many toys.  There should absolutely, positively never be a reason for them to find themselves with nothing to do.  But they are children - and it happens.  I honestly don't remember if The Activity Jar was my own creation or something that I borrowed or stole from someone else.  I don't recall learning of it from somewhere else but I don't consider myself an incredibly creative person so I'm doubtful that I came up with it on my own.  If I got it from you - please accept both my sincerest appreciation for sharing your brilliance and my equally sincere apologies for not giving you credit!

The Activity Jar is a ridiculously simple concept that B has completely bought into.  It consists of an empty Jif jar (I LOVE empty Jif Jars.  We go through a TON of them and consequently, they are all over the house being used for a multitude of different things) filled with small strips of paper with ideas written on them.

This was something that I thoroughly introduced to B.  I sat her down at the end of last summer one day while E was napping and explained to her that we were going to write down every idea that we could think of for fun things to do.  I got out a piece of notebook paper and started writing as she listed off ideas.  She came up with most of them herself but everytime she would get stumped, I would suggest something and that would set her off again.  The list ranges from very simple activities that only take a couple of minutes like "read a book" to more complex ideas like "go to the zoo".  I made sure that I was being a good Mama by including items that I really hate doing (but the girls love) like "Paint a Picture" and "Play Play-Doh".  

We put the Activity Jar to use anytime our regularly scheduled activity goes to hell or on Thursdays when we generally have nothing else set up.  B has also been known to randomly ask me at breakfast time, "Mama?  Can we use the Activity Jar to decide what to do today?"

I do believe that it is time to add some new activities to our jar and when I do it this time, I think I'll use two different colors.  I'll use one color for short, simple, at-home ideas (call them green ideas) and a different color for outings and adventures (call them blue ideas).  My thought is, that if we're looking for ideas to fill up a whole day, I can tell the girls "pick 3 green ideas or 1 blue idea" or if we're just looking for something to fill a couple of hours, we can go with "2 green ideas" or similar.  We will also need to decorate the jar a bit - lord knows it deserves a fancier home in exchange for all of its hard work!  

Here are some examples of activities in our jar:

Tiny slips of paper predict our day!

• Craft
• Play at Toy Store (the girls love to go play at Creative Kidstuff)
• Family Movie Time (this involves sleeping bags and popcorn and the whole 9-yards)
• Build a Fort
• Nature Walk
• Dance Party
• Playdate
• Read a Book
• Play-Doh
• Make Mail (we love pen pals!)
• Puzzle
• Go to the library
• Go to the park
• Balloon games
• Finger paint
• Cook/Bake
• Play with Water
• Computer Time

E chooses our activity for the day
"Play at Toy Store" 

Wanna help me out?  Leave me some more creative ideas to add to our jar!  What's going to go in YOUR activity jar?